Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Hong Kong's 2Q Polished Diamond Imports +6%

Hong Kong’s polished diamond imports rose 6 percent year on year to
$4.398 billion in the second quarter of 2013. Data published by the
Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, China indicated that polished exports
grew 3 percent to $2.841 billion during the period. Net polished
imports, the excess of imports over exports, increased 13 percent to
$1.557 billion. Hong Kong’s rough imports fell 12 percent to
$491.48 million, while rough exports grew 29 percent to $692.61 million.
Net rough imports, representing imports less exports, declined to a
deficit of $201.13 million from a surplus of $26.18 million one year
earlier.

During the first six months of the
year, polished imports to Hong Kong increased 5 percent to $8.884
billion, the federation reported. Imports from India grew 17 percent to
$4.21 billion but they fell from most other major supply countries.
Imports from Israel declined 2 percent to $1.14 billion and by 4 percent
from Belgium to $948.7 million. Polished imports from China declined 6
percent to $522.4 million.

Polished exports from Hong Kong
decreased 4 percent to $5.803 billion during the first half. Exports to
India fell 10 percent to $1.53 billion, while declining by 9 percent to
$911.6 million to China. Exports to Belgium grew 1 percent to $826.9
million and jumped 6 percent to Israel to $696.5 million.

Hong
Kong’s rough imports rose 8 percent to $955.96 million during the half
year and rough exports increased 43 percent to $1.388 billion. Net rough
imports decreased five-fold to a deficit of $432.5 million from a
deficit of $86.4 million the previous year.

Hong Kong’s net diamond account for the first six months of 2013 rose 15 percent to $2.648 billion.